Trim the Tree
by Steel Kiba
Summary: Yay! A non-Power Rangers story! Christmas is around the corner, which means it's time for the Annual Tree Decorating Contest at Lake Kizaki Park! Kei, Mizuho, and their friends surely won't get into any holiday hijinks, right?
1. Chapter 1

From the depths of darkness, a star began to rise. Its five-pointed body seemed to be chosen by some all-seeing lords of the cosmos, two hands gripping its base and slowly lifting it up. The astral object gleamed gold, but it soon reflected colors that shone from below: radiant red, blue, yellow, and green. The star kept going up, up, up until the giants that held it situated it atop a bristly green pillar, just one attached to many that spread over the world. Finally, that wayward denizen of the sky took its rightful place as the apex of the known universe, and its ascension was celebrated by those who lifted it, a man and a woman, by a snug embrace and a deep and loving kiss.

"Nooooo!"

Kei and Mizuho Kusanagi slowly broke away from each other and looked in the direction of the protest. Marie was sitting on the couch, shaking his little head to and fro so much that his tiny Santa Claus hat fell off.

"What's wrong, Marie?" Mizuho asked.

Kei approached Marie and inspected the little technical marvel and the couch cushions.

"Did he lose a cookie or something?" he inquired. "Wait, he would've torn this couch apart just to find that...just like my backpack when he dropped that last piece of Pochy in it."

The young man's wife giggled as she walked over to the both of them. She picked up Marie and stroked the top of his head with her index finger.

"Maybe he was feeling left out, Kei," she said. "He hasn't seen Miruru in a while."

Marie rubbed the side of his yellow head in embarrassment, but then shook his head again. He broke from Mizuho's grip and flew through the middle of the living room up to the top of the Christmas tree. The alien being lifted the star from its perch and tossed it away, Kei catching it just in time. Letting out a squeak, Marie extended his arms and legs, hovering at the point where the decoration had been.

"I guess he wants to be the star of the show," Kei said.

Mizuho smiled. "He sure is used to working behind the scenes."

Kei chuckled, remembering that Marie had once played director that fateful day at the beach, where the sun was setting behind the wide ocean, and nearly on the bond between an earthbound husband and a wife from a completely different world, only for them to reaffirm their love for each other and keep going forward. They would face the anguish of the past and the hardships of the future together.

The two looked into each other's eyes, their smiles growing wider with each second. Kei and Mizuho clasped hands and drew each other together into what was probably their fifteenth hug of the day, this one tighter than the others. Marie let out a sigh, his cheeks aglow like the lights on the tree.

"Knock knock!"

The front door to the Kusanagis' apartment swung open, and in walked Hyosuke, Kaede, Matagu, Koishi, and Ichigo, all brushing off snow from their winter wear outside. Kei and Mizuho, who were an inch away from another lengthy lip lock, shot away from each other and nearly tripped over the furniture.

"Not again!" Mizuho cried out.

"Great knocking, man!" Kei exclaimed, flailing to keep his falling glasses from hitting the floor. "Very courteous…"

"Whoa!" Hyosuke exclaimed, grinning ear to ear and throwing his arm around Kei just as he had steadied himself on the coffee table. "Don't scramble because of us, buddy! Love is a wonderful thing!"

Kaede nodded in agreement and faced Mizuho, who was blushing so much that her face matched the color of Kaede's hair.

"At least you're in the comfort of your own home, Ms. Kazami," the girl whispered, referring to the teacher by her maiden name just like everyone else, sometimes even Kei. "The last time someone barged in on me and Hyosuke, we were in the stockroom of the Herikawas' shop…"

"I think she gets the point, Kaede," Hyosuke interrupted, pulling his girlfriend aside and sheepishly grinning. Koishi, on the other hand, shot a glare at the two that could shred their matching candy cane-striped sweaters.

"Yeah, _that's_ what my parents pay you for every week," she muttered. "French kissing each other while I try to carry fifty jars of candy…"

"It was more like twenty, Koishi," Matagu said, patting the young lady's shoulder and ignoring her narrowed gaze turning to him. "I carried half. And you only dropped two."

Koishi growled at Matagu, who tried his best to laugh it off.

"Talk about an unpopular two for one special."

Everyone turned to face Ichigo, who shrugged her shoulders and raised an eyebrow.

"Heh heh. At least I didn't have to make a 'Cleanup on Aisle Two' Joke."

"Anyway…" Kei began, trying to get things back on track. "It's great to see you guys."

"Without a doubt," Mizuho added. "Did you all get everything else we needed?"

Scowls and uncertain looks all shifted to smiles as everyone drew out a Christmas decoration or two to place on the coffee table. The city was holding its annual Christmas tree decorating contest at Lake Kizaki Park the very next day, and the little group had been combing through their homes for the best trimmings.

"Check out these lava lamp lights!" Hyosuke announced, presenting a coiled-up strand of miniature versions of the groovy light fixtures. "I've had 'em strung up in my room for years."

"Pretty cool, man," Matagu complimented, putting down a set of smooth, rocky triangles that were painted silver.

"What are those, Matagu?" Kaede asked. She added a sparkly rainbow garland to the collection, one that made Marie's eyes glow with joy.

Matagu grinned. "I carved these points out of a piece of that meteorite Koishi and I found in the forest last month."

Koishi giggled and brushed a lock of her dark brown hair to the side. She then pointed to the characters she had written on each one. "Once Matagu carved them, I painted them and wrote each of our names on them."

"These are wonderful," Mizuho remarked, picking one up by its string and inspecting it. "Wait, why does this one have a groove going down the middle?"

Matagu started to twiddle the zipper on his green track jacket. "Well," he started, glancing toward Ichigo. "I was showing Koishi how to carve with the saw I had, but then Ichigo popped out of my closet and scared us half to death!"

"At least we still have all our fingers," Koishi said.

Both Kei and Mizuho looked puzzled. Hyosuke and Kaede tightly clasped their hands together, making sure all of their digits were accounted for.

"What were you doing hiding in the closet, Ichigo?" Kaede asked.

"Just making sure everything was going well," Ichigo answered with a sly look. "I had to tell Matagu to put his arm more snugly around Koishi while she was carving to make sure the cut was straight."

Mizuho giggled again. "Safety sure is important, Ms. Moreno," she said.

Kei leaned in to speak to the teacher. "I'm beginning to think those eyes I saw in the kitchen last night weren't Marie's…" Mizuho gasped at the thought.

"Heh heh." Ichigo laughed. She reached into her plaid bookbag and drew out her Christmas offering, a figure clothed in bluish-white robes and a glittery gold halo.

"This is the angel my family and I put on our tree every year," she explained. "My mother insisted we use it for the one we decorate for the contest."

Everyone sitting around the coffee table agreed with Ichigo. However, Marie dove straight from his position atop Kei and Mizuho's tree and started hovering in the middle of the circle, waving his arms and pointing to himself.

"Whoa whoa!" Hyosuke cried out, backing up a little bit. "Where did you come from, Muh-ree?"

"It's pronounced 'Mah-ree-ay'." Kaede reminded him, smiling at the little wonder. "And why are you freaking out? You've seen him before."

"Yeah, but he just pops up outta nowhere…" her boyfriend replied.

"He was on top of our Christmas tree," Kei explained, watching Marie examine the angel ornament and poke at its halo. "I guess he really can't stand anything else being up there."

Ichigo picked up the angel with one hand and tapped Marie's right hand with her right index finger. The yellow being spun the red ring that floated around him like an inner tube and floated over to Matagu and landed on his left shoulder.

"You know, I'm still not sure where this little guy comes from," Koishi said, watching Marie rock back and forth. "But he sure seems to like us a lot."

"That and the whole bag of barbecue chips yesterday…" Hyosuke grumbled. "I just got home from school and there he was on the kitchen counter…"

Everyone laughed a little, and then a ding sounded off in the kitchen.

"Oh!" Mizuho piped up. "That's the hot chocolate! Kei, could you please get that ready for everyone?"

"Uh, sure," Kei said, taking a moment to get up and head for the kitchen.

 _"And please hide the astro computer!"_

Amplified thanks to her extraterrestrial heritage, Mizuho's inner voice reached Kei's mind and nearly stopping him in his tracks. Mizuho had been using a special laptop that she previously used to send data of her Earth observations to the Galaxy Federation to speak to her mother the night before.

 _"Right, honey,"_ he silently relayed. _"Just make sure nobody follows me."_

Matagu smiled as Marie kept rocking on his shoulder. "All I can gather is that Marie's been here ever since we saw that spacecraft way back," he said. "Ms. Kazami, did you notice him or anything else odd that day before we all met up?"

The warmth of her cozy home and her thick, cream-colored sweater vanished as Mizuho's body went cold.

"Not from what I can remember, Mr. Shido," she told him, doing her best to keep a neutral expression.

Hyosuke nudged Kaede and said, "Isn't that the day we went to that hotel…" His voice suddenly became muffled as Kaede cupped her hand over her mouth.

"I don't think so," she interjected, her body tensing up. Mizuho started blushing, Koishi and Matagu just looked at each other, and Ichigo coyly raised her eyebrows twice.

Meanwhile, Kei's hands were creating a symphony in the kitchen with the clinking of cups being set on the counters and the sound of rich hot chocolate pouring into them.

"Done," he whispered, wiping the sweat from his brow as he filled the last cup. He then tiptoed around the bend and to the bedroom door. He looked behind him to make sure nobody was watching, and then the young man turned the knob, slowly pushing the door open.

"Hiya!"

Kei shouted and tumbled to the ground, having recoiled when a blue and pink blur sprung from the room and bumped into him. That got everyone's attention and they all ran to the hallway to see what happened. Kei was face-first on the carpet, his glasses knocked to the side. Standing above him was none other than Maho, Mizuho's little sister.

"How's that for a surprise?" she said cheerfully. She picked up Kei's glasses and put them on for a second before whisking them off. "Whoa, you're blinder than I thought!"

"Maho, where are your manners?" Hatsuho Kazami, the matriarch of the family, inquired as she stepped out of the bedroom. She put an arm under Kei and lifted him to his feet, stroking his hair and even giving him a second-long nuzzle.

"Eh," Maho scoffed, brushing off her pink pea coat before doing the same to Kei. "He'll be alright."

Mizuho and the teens stood open-mouthed and wide-eyed. The teacher reached out to her husband and steadied him while he put on his glasses.

"Mother!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arm around Kei's. "What's all this about?"

"Yeah, what's going on? How did you get here?" Koishi asked.

Hatsuho just smiled, one that made Hyosuke and Matagu's cheeks red and grins toothy. "Oh, we've been here for a little while. We were just tidying things up around the house."

 _"Forgetful much?"_ Maho said to Mizuho through telepathy. _"We got the computer put away as well as that big stuffed turtle Marie sleeps on."_

 _"Good thing we transported here a few minutes ago,"_ Hatsuho added. _"And you said you didn't want me involved with anything in your bedroom."_

Kei sighed and thought, _"I should've seen this coming…"_

 _"Tis the season…"_ Mizuho replied.

TO BE CONCLUDED IN CHAPTER 2! :D


	2. Chapter 2

"Why didn't we sign up for the contest earlier?" Hyosuke asked through chattering teeth.

The lakeside park was a sight to behold. The waters of Kizaki, formerly a shimmering blue, were frozen in a silver sheen, and the vibrancies of the verdant vegetation were clothed in snow. Most everyone marveled at the scenery—most everyone.

"I'm just saying what we're all thinking," Hyosuke said, rubbing his hands together for the fifth continuous minute.

"We heard you the first time, buddy," Kei told him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "And the second and the third."

Mizuho giggled and gestured to the line of folks in front of them, which extended at least twenty yards to the event registration table.

"I'm guessing you're right," she said.

"Makes you wonder why everyone didn't just sign up online," Ichigo posed, shuffling her feet in the snow.

Matagu shrugged as he popped a peppermint into his mouth and gave another one to Koishi. "Probably trying to get into the presale to get into the presale of everything," he suggested.

Time passed. The line continued to inch forward. Hyosuke continued to complain about the cold, which led to Kaede and Ichigo pelting him with a snowball each. Kei and Mizuho huddled together partially for warm and partially to hide Marie, who kept trying to squirm out of Mizuho's inner coat pocket every time he heard Matagu unwrap another piece of candy.

"Try not to get jealous _again,_ dear."

"Jealous?" Kei said, looking at the people departing the sign-up table that was just past the park's central fountain. "That must be…"

"Hey, Kei!"

Before Kei could finish what he was saying, his Uncle Minoru and Aunt Konoha had spotted him and the rest of the group.

"Uncle Minoru, Aunt Konoha, you're in the decorating contest, too?" Kei asked.

Konoha nodded. "Thankfully, since there have been so few patients coming in to see us, your uncle and I actually have these last few days leading up to Christmas off."

"It's good that people are staying relatively healthy this year," Minoru added, throwing an arm around his nephew. "We can really get out into the hustle and bustle of the holidays, and it's so good to see you kids joining in!"

"We're looking forward to it," Kei answered.

"This is gonna be great!" Kaede exclaimed. Everyone seemed to be warming up in every way knowing that they'd all be together, but Minoru's blood seemed to boil with heat as white as his doctor's coat when he looked at Mizuho.

"Oh, and Ms. Kazami! I…I…mean Mrs. Kusanagi…" the physician stammered, running a hand over his beard. "We did see your mother and sister signing up earlier as well. Wonderful… Mizuho. Hatsuho. Ho ho h…hey!"

"This one's definitely aiming to be on the naughty list," Konoha said, pushing her husband along with the toe of her mauve snow boot. "We'll see you all tomorrow! We'd love to have one of you on our team!"

Mizuho looked to the side and stroked her cheek. "So that explains why Mother and Maho barged into our home...somewhat…"

"Wait, what did your aunt mean when she said 'one of you'?" Matagu asked Kei.

"This is the last time we do something without finding some kind of written information about it," Koishi said.

"Come on, Koishi," Ichigo protested in her familiar neutral tone. "There are so many little surprises in life."

The group was walking back up the stairs to Kei and Mizuho's apartment after signing up for the big event, and each member pored over the flyer that they had neglected to look closer at for so long.

 _Come Create a Winter Wonderland!_

 _Lake Kizaki Park Annual Christmas Tree Decorating Contest_

 _December 22 at 11:00 AM_

 _Entry fees will be split 50/50 between Safe Haven Homeless Shelter and Greater Area Children's Hospital._

 _Bring your favorite ornaments! Only four people each to a team._

"Look, let's not pout and play the blame game," Matagu urged, looking back at Koishi, who just shook her head. "It's gonna be a fun time."

"Plus, we get to make even more awesome trees now," Hyosuke added as he bounded up the last three stairs and rounded the corner. "But whoever's on mine and Kaede's team will be winning the big prize, so yeah."

"What prize?" Kaede questioned, following alongside. "The winning team just gets a little blue ribbon."

"And their picture in the paper," Matagu pointed out.

"Page seven right next to the used car ads," Kei quipped, causing the others to giggle.

"Knowing that we're the best Yuletide designers around is good enough for me!" Kaede's boyfriend answered, planting a big kiss on her cheek."

Reaching the door, Kei sighed and looked at Mizuho, who just giggled and closed her eyes while tossing him the keys. He unlocked the door and opened it only to be yanked into the apartment.

"Get over here, partner!" Maho yelled, stuffing a green Santa hat on Kei's head. The girl's mother was lounging on the sofa and eating a Christmas tree-shaped cookie, one ankle crossed over the other. Kaede squeezed Hyosuke's hand extra hard.

"Maho! Wait, what?" Kei shouted.

Maho nodded. "Yup. You. Me. Partners for this whole tree deal."

Mizuho pulled Kei to her by the back of his jacket. "Excuse me?" she cut in. "Kei and I were planning to be on a team together."

"Now now, dear," Hatsuho interrupted, getting up from her seat and walking over to her eldest child and her son-in-law. Marie hovered out of Mizuho's jacket and Hatsuho gave him the other half of her cookie, ingesting it in one gulp. "Maho doesn't get to spend much time with Kei or his half of the family, so we decided it would be a nice idea for her to be on a team with him and his aunt and uncle."

"Trying to stay out of Minoru's wandering eyes?" Mizuho whispered.

"Oh please," her mother responded with a warm smile, also tilting her head toward Koishi and Matagu. "He'll be instrumental in getting those two lovebirds to finally sing a romantic song together."

"But they seem to be getting along just fine without any help," her eldest daughter replied.

"Yeah," Kei interjected, sliding up to the two women. "Plus, last time you helped, my friends almost got run over by Maho driving a go-kart…"

Just as Maho stuck her tongue out at Kei, Ichigo chimed in, "At least I'll take pictures of the madness and the happy couple this time."

"Oh, Ichigo, you're like the third daughter I never had," Hatsuho said sweetly as Maho nodded her head.

Just then, Hyosuke nudged his way into the group.

"Hey guys, I overheard some of the things you said," he whispered. "Matagu and Koishi might hear you."

"Aw, that's okay, Blondie," Maho said, putting her hands on her hips while the young man raised an eyebrow. "Miruru is distracting them now."

"Wha…

"AHHH! There's that other Marie!" Koishi shouted, jumping back about five feet after a blur zipped by her.

"What planet do these little guys come from?!" Matagu exhaled, his eyes as wide as they could be. "Are you sure that's the same one from this summer?"

Sure enough, Miruru, Hatsuho and Maho's technical assistant, glided through the air and struck a pose near the Christmas tree. The light-purple extraterrestrial let out a happy cry, waving her little wand in front of her. Marie's cheeks glowed as red as the M&M's he was about to devour, but he dropped his loot and knocked over the entire bag of candy as he bolted in flight, reached Miruru, and started spinning around in circles with her hand in hand.

"It begins again…" Kei and Mizuho said with a sigh.


End file.
